The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, has inaugurated an ultra modern Mother-Child unit of the Ibeju-Lekki General Hospital as well as enjoined both staff and management of the hospital to ensure that the healthcare facility is put to good and effective use.

The hospital was built, equipped and donated to the Ibeju-Lekki General Hospital, Akodo, Lagos, by the owners of Prince Ebeano Supermarket, Mr. Sunday Egede and David Ojei, as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives.

The Prince Ebeano Mother-Child unit of the Ibeju-Lekki General Hospital consists of two maternity wards en suit, operating theatre, two consulting rooms, and equipped with a new 135kva cummins generator. Among the equipment at the facility include Electro surgical machine, suction machine, ultrasound Scan equipment, multi parameter monitor, infant warmer and oxygen concentrator and a phototherapy machine among others.

Speaking at the commissioning, Idris described the hospital complex as modern and the equipments in it as of international standard adding that it aligns with modern day design for healthcare facility, which the Lagos State Government has also adopted going forward.

While commending the donors, the commissioner who noted that inequality in healthcare service delivery was a reality, stated that the gesture will help to address inequality in the healthcare service, access to quality healthcare and cost of care, which are some of the objectives of the proposed Lagos Health Insurance Scheme.

“Before today, I had quietly visited the facility to see for myself what it looks like, what I saw then and what I have seen today is very commendable. The edifice is simple but very functional; it is in line with modern design for healthcare facility. Any new health facility that the Lagos State Government will be build will follow the same model.”

“I thank the donors, Mr. Sunday Egede and Mr. Jude Ojei. The facility that you have donated is of international standard. It will help to address inequality in healthcare service delivery in the state, address access to healthcare and cost of care, which are all at the core of the Lagos State Insurance Scheme which will commence before the end of the year,” Idris stated.

Earlier in a keynote address read by Mr. Chidi Koosi, on behalf of the donors, the duo explained that the gesture was a demonstration of their efforts to give back to the society and added that if more well meaning Nigerians toed the same line the country can end medical tourism.

“What we are commissioning today is the result of our modest effort to give back to the society. In building this hospital project, we had international standards in mind. The facilities are the same you can find in advanced countries of the world. In doing this, we are making a statement that those whom God has graciously placed at the upper rungs of the economic ladder should have the empathy to invest their resources to cater for the less privileged. We encourage the rich among us to build world class hospitals in Nigeria, by so doing they contribute to building a better and healthier society.

“Again, we are showing that we can put a stop to capital flight through medical tourism. We can have the best medical facilities in Nigeria if we have the will and foresight. We have both the human and material resources to do it. This is something we need to pursue with a sense of urgency because our millions of our people are daily being assailed by health challenges that other nations have overcome. We must think of the poor, the rich can have the best doctors in America, Europe and India but not so the poor,” he concluded.